MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 83, 19 October 1877, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

A correspondent of an exchange tele: graphs the following from Dunedin ;—A movement is on foot to startanother daily potier, emihating chiefly from a few moneyed men, who are displeased at seeing the Daily i .times pass into the hands of tbc Guardian proprietory. It is proposed to form a, joint stock compauy, capita! .310.000, of wiiich the employees of the Times af? willing to subscribe one-dhir'd, and give the company their hearty support. The public having beon accustomed to 1 two newspapers, will not readily sub« mit to one only."

An epidemic for flitting insurance pom- ] panics prevails throughout the colony. One Js,' spoken of in Christchurch, and yesterday, a few gentlemen met for the purpose of forming another one here. The idea emanates chiefly from disappoints edjapplicants for Union shares. No, new company now would meet with anyjupport.'Oamaru and Invercargill are spoken of as having ambitions towards floating companiesof tbeir own. A "paper chase "has been arranged for Saturday next, and will be taken advantage of by footballers, cricketers, and other lovers of vigorous exercise. This kirid of sport has proved very successful a. Auckland, Wellington, and other places and as there are plenty bT strong agile men, and good runners hereabouts, it is likely regular runs will be arranged. Foruninitated it may be as well to explain that two persons wili be selected to act as hares, and will start ten minutes before thei.hounds consisting of any number of persons— the more the merrier. The hares will take whatever direction they choose, and go where they choose, but tboy must keep together, and being well supplied witk slips of paper, should keep on dropping the same as they go. Jhe hounds follow the trail. They roust in fairness to the hounds follow the trail, and on no account to leave it until one or other of the hares are sighted, when a direct run may be made for either one, who on being touched is considered caught. There will bo plenty of fun, and there should be a large gathering at the start' ing point. Mr C. Hargreaves, Carlyle, will givefull particulars, to inquirers. „ ,Tbe Poverty Bay Standard mentions that a. contract entered into in that district for the boilding down of scabby sheep has resulted in the destruction of between J.16.QQ0 and 17,000. Stragglers, too weak 'to travel to the boiliug down works, and which were left behind for a time, are to Jae hunted up and shot, 5 p/F6fibe following libel we are, ibdeb ted jpovthe Dunedin, News>-^A ptirse.was rgrcSn-tfatf* ball .that wMiv!iepsn£#ve!-, ; 1t.%10 :the4Q-h_# ' $ayis;'vj&'■'atS'^inforn^^he^nder^xperienced no difficulty in tracing out the owner. From the appearance of the , purse be readily came to the, conclusion , that it belonged to a member of the Press. It was empty, , ; , "Atticus," in the , Melbourne Leader, says :rr-"Last year a divorced couple were re-married. All the bitter recriminations, the public exposure, the heavy law ex* penses were forgotten; and the two who had originally become one by the alchemy of matrimony, <and« who were, analysed by the Divorce'fCourt into a condition of single blessedness,,; flew together again when they ;^Were 'tpl^? they might live separately, talking of this case to a clergyman he _old^i_ie s pf a still more re^ tnarkable one. He once married a couple who had been before united and who • were never divorced. They were first married in England after a short ac« quaintance, when very yonng. They quar« relied as young people will, and the husband ran away and made for the diggings. In a few years she, in perfect ; ignorance of bis movements, followed and „ set up a refreshment tent on the road „,to,Dunolly. He, as a stranger, became her lodger. The liked each other, like ripened into love, and they agreed to marry. Wben giving the full details of their names, places of birth, Ac, to the clergyman* they found out for the first time their former relation ; but having bought their wedding clothes and paid their fees, they determined to proceed with the ceremony. Of their future history I am ignorant, but they ought to be the most olosely united couple in Australia." A new cotton plant has been found in Egypt whicb is so wonderfuly prolific tbat it may prove a dangerous enemy to the American cotton-growing interests*. The plant has a tiny stem and no branches. It bears an average of fifty pods on each bush, while the usual yield of the^plant is aboufc thirty, It yields from 395 to 675 points per feddari, thus doubling tbe crop. A smaller quaniity of soil is needed; but the great drawback in Egypt is that it requires much more water, whicb needs-. ' sitates the alternating of tbe crops with grain and vegetables. In the sea islands of the Altantic coast along the lower Mississipi it wonld prove wonderfully prolific.